Hapag-Lloyd master Florian Bottger describes himself as a passionate seafarer who has been sailing with the German line for 16 years, five of them as a captain.
But when his vessel, the 7,510-teu containership Yantian Express (built 2002), suffered a serious fire off Canada in 2019, he was tested like never before.
Bottger, who lives in Bremen with wife Adriana and children Ben and Nick, told the liner operator's in-house magazine that he was woken with the news of the blaze on 2 January at about midnight by the second officer.
